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‘I didn’t bet on a pandemic!’

When TV director Kay Mellor planned the next series of her lottery drama The Syndicate, she hadn't reckoned on Covid-19. She tells Francine White how she coped.

March 25, 2021 10:31
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WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 23/03/2021 - Programme Name: The Syndicate series 4 - TX: n/a - Episode: The Syndicate series 4 ep1 (No. 1) - Picture Shows: **BEHIND-THE-SCENES** Keeley (KATHERINE ROSE MORLEY), Kay Mellor (Director), Frank Stevenson (NEIL MORRISEY) - (C) Rollem Productions - Photographer: Ben Blackall
4 min read

Kay Mellor OBE, creator of a myriad of TV dramas, produces all her work through her own production company, Rollem in Leeds. When the BBC asked in 2019 for another series of her hugely popular drama, The Syndicate, about groups of people who win the lottery, Mellor was ready to roll. Everything was on schedule, the plot centering on a group of people who work in a kennels. They win the lottery but are cheated out of their ticket by a dodgy newsagent. Neil Morrissey had already been cast in the role and it seemed as though filming would be a straightforward process.

“I hadn’t reckoned on a global pandemic!” says Mellor from her home in Leeds that she shares with Anthony, her husband of 52 years, and their shih tzu dog Happy.

“I’d say this tested me to the limits, literally!”

Four days before filming was due to begin, the production had to be shuI down. Locations for the series included Las Vegas which became a no go. When filming did eventually start in early summer last year, actors had to be taught how to apply their own make-up, keep costume continuity, and a filming method had to be developed on how to make the cast look as though they were close together but adhering to social distancing.